ROC USA president named Social Innovator of Year

UNH's Carsey Institute to present honor Sept. 30

Published: September 18, 2013

Paul Bradley, president of ROC USA LLC, has been named the Carsey 2013 Social Innovator of the Year.

ROC USA, of which Bradley is founding president, is a non-profit organization that helps resident corporations buy their manufactured home communities – or mobile home parks -- from private community owners. ROC USA is a nonprofit organization with a mission of making quality resident ownership possible nationwide.

Bradley will be honored at the New Hampshire Social Business and Microfinance Forum on Monday, Sept. 30, at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

The Carsey Social Innovator of the Year Award recognizes a New England business leader with a demonstrated commitment to social innovation and business. Social innovators combine the passion and purpose of a social or environmental mission with the rigor and accountability of a market-based approach to enterprise design, financing, and operations.

“Paul Bradley has helped grow a social business that has helped thousands of people lead more secure lives by giving them a secure place to live,” said Michael Swack, faculty director of the Carsey Institute’s Center on Social Innovation and Finance. “Paul is an innovator, critical thinker and outstanding leader. He is setting an example for how to scale a social business to serve people across the USA.”

“Our reason for being is to help homeowners gain economic security through resident ownership of their ‘mobile home park’ or manufactured home community,” said Bradley, a 1986 graduate of UNH. “We are focused on doing one thing really well and doing it time and again for no other reason than to preserve and improve affordable communities and build value for homeowners in resident-owned communities.”

During his 16-year tenure, the number of resident-owned communities increased from 10 to 82, increasing resident ownership’s market share in New Hampshire to nearly 20 percent.